William A. Jacobson
Legal Insurrection
3/7/2013
Rand Paul’s filibuster of John Brennan yesterday, which went on for over 12 hours, was a phenomenon. He was joined at various times by Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ron Wyden, and late in the night, Tim Scott, Ron Johnson and others.
As the screenshots in my post yesterday show, it was the banner — in a good way — at both Drudge and HuffPo.
#StandWithRand was the highest trending term on Twitter worldwide.
Progressive bloggers like Glenn Greenwald heard their writings read on the floor of the Senate by one of the Senators most demonized by the liberal media and Democrats, and supportive groups like Media Matters and SPLC.
Progressives bemoaned the fact that other than Ron Wyden, their heroes like Elizabeth Warren were nowhere to be found on the most basic of civil liberties principles, the right of an American citizen in America not to be deprived of life without due process of law…
Fascinating day: Tea Party Senator filibusters torture-supporting CIA nominee over civil liberties, while Dem establishment mocks & fumes
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 7, 2013
Read the entire article at Legal Insurrection.
Related: Headlines from The Blaze:
You Will Never Believe Who Said “Rand Paul is the MAN” for Filibuster
Liberal Actor of GOP-Led Filibuster Over Drones: “For God’s Sake Where are Democrats?”
“Dems? Do [you] have any thoughts on Obama’s transition from a progressive academic humanist [to] a regressive corporate warlord?”
Wall Street Journal tells Rand Paul to “calm down”
…The Republican senators who participated in the filibuster with Paul include, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Pat Toomey (R-Penn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wy.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.).
There are a total of 47 Republican members of the U.S. Senate, meaning 33 other GOP senators sat out the filibuster protesting the federal government’s controversial drone program. To find out who those senators are, comb through the full list here.
Just one Democrat joined in the filibuster, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) spoke but only asked questions of Paul and didn’t officially speak as part of the filibuster…
Read the whole thing.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., walks to a waiting vehicle as he leaves the Capitol after his filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director on Capitol Hill in Washington, early Thursday, March 7, 2013. Senate Democrats pushed Wednesday for speedy confirmation of John Brennan’s nomination to be CIA director but ran into a snag after Paul began a lengthy speech over the legality of potential drone strikes on U.S. soil. But Paul stalled the chamber to start what he called a filibuster of Brennan’s nomination. Credit: AP
Update: Why Senator Graham needs to lose his next election: Ugh. Lindsey Graham Slams Rand Paul for Holding Filibuster – It’s “Ridiculous!”
Will the Left Finally Get the Tea Party Now?
Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster against the confirmation of CIA Director and “drone czar” John Brennan offers a “teachable moment” to the media and the left about the Tea Party…
Update 2: Ted Cruz Batters Eric Holder on Drone Strikes Without an Imminent Threat
It seems to me that Cruz is hitting on the key distinction that separates acceptable lethal force on American soil from nonacceptable lethal force: is there an imminent threat? What is eye-opening about this exchange is that Eric Holder seems to think the words “appropriate” and “constitutional” have the same meaning…
Also, via Instapundit:
McConnell extends Rand Paul filibuster: It’ll take 60 votes to proceed with Brennan nomination
…“[A]t whatever point we get to a cloture vote to extend debate on the nomination of Brennan, it is my view that cloture should not be invoked,” McConnell said while participating in the filibuster on the Senate floor. “This is a controversial nominee. Should cloture be invoked, I intend to oppose the nomination and congratulate my colleague from Kentucky for this extraordinary effort.”…
